Gold Coast United skipper Michael Thwaite has blasted his teammates for a lack of ‘mongrel’ after they slumped to their third loss in a row – the first time they’ve done so in the club’s history.
Miron Bleiberg’s men remain rooted to the bottom of the Hyundai A-League ladder after Friday night’s demoralizing 2-1 loss to Melbourne Heart at Skilled Park.
For the second consecutive match, United overcame an ordinary start to draw level in the second half, only to let their concentration slip and concede once again shortly after their breakthrough.
It means the Glitter Strip club has only five points in total after their first seven matches.
After top four finishes in their first two seasons it truly is new territory for Bleiberg and his troops, but Thwaite believes the loss of a number of seasoned campaigners – including ex-captain Jason Culina, prolific marksman Shane Smeltz and towering defender Dino Djulbic – may be finally starting to take its toll.
“The difference between this team and the Gold Coast team in previous years is that we had a bit more hunger – a bit more mongrel,” Thwaite said after the match.
“For me, it’s quite depressing. We’ve never lost more than two in a row and we’ve always been confident when he have lost two in a row, because we knew we were going to win the next one.”
“It’s just a mentality we’ve had and it’s changed a bit.”
“The new players are gaining more experience and it’s early days, still – we can turn it around. But we need that hunger to win.”
Thwaite said it was ’embarrassing’ for a club with such high expectations – borne from the outspoken nature of boisterous billionaire backer Clive Palmer – to remain at the foot of the competition table.
“We’ve only got one thing to blame – the defence,” he said.
“We’re leaking too many goals. I’m part of the defence and I’m partly to blame. We’re playing well in patches but if we’re copping two goals a game, we’re not going to win.”
In that sense, there is welcome good news for United – first-choice centre-half Ante Rozic could be just two weeks away from returning to the side after an extended absence with a knee injury.
The Croatian hasn’t played or trained fully since copping a destabilizing knock to his knee in his side’s second game of the season against Central Coast.
However, scans left club doctors confident that if all goes according to plan, Rozic will return to training on Monday and should be right to resume his place in the team in a fortnight.
But as signaled by Palmer in the press before Friday’s game, the club is likely to look to the transfer market in order to strengthen its squad in the January window.
“Maybe it would be better, to have competition for spots in the team,” said experienced Dutchman Paul Beekmans – one of United’s best on Friday.
“I don’t know what Clive decides or what’s possible, here, but for now we have this team and we have to do it with this team.”
